Hi folks,
Thought I mightshare some of the experiences I had on the Ocean Hunter 3. I will talk about:
Plan
My original plan wasto spend a week in Fiji and then a week in Palau but the flight schedulesbetween the two didn't allow for it so I opted to spend 2 weeks in back to backtrips on the Ocean Hunter 3 (OH3).
Getting There
I had some dilemmason the best way to get to Koror from New York and finally decided on thefollowing route:
Newark-->Honolulu-->Guam-->Yap-->Koror
The reason I chosethis route as apposed to the shorter route through Texas was because I wasdeparting in the winter and didn't know what freak snow storm will cause whichdelays where, so I opted to leave one day early. I have previously missed one day of diving inBelize because of flight cancelationsand I wasn't going to take that chance again.
I left EWR at 09:30and arrived in HNL at 15:20. I spent theday walking around Waikiki Beach, looking at people surfing, drinking some niceKona espresso and having a nice dinner.
The following day at14:45 I had my flight to GUM, a 2 hour lay over and thenGUM-->YAP-->ROR. This leg iscontinues as you don't disembark andremain on the plane for about 90 min.
I arrived in ROR at23:05 and went straight to a hotel to crash.
Airport pickups andthe hotel the first night were pre arranged by Fish N Fins.
Diving
All diving isperformed off a tender boat. The tenderboat is designed very well and never felt crowded. Your dive gear will remain on the tenderthroughout the week and there is no need to carry anything anywhere. The only things I took on and off the tenderwere my dive light and the camera I rented for 2 days
. The tender boat's benches have storage inthem to throw in your snorkel, booties, fins, water bottle, whatever
.
Diving off thetender is immensely easy. The staff wasalways helpful in helping you gear up (hoisting your pack to the bench andhelping you with the straps, etc , and you backward roll into the water.
Water temperaturewas at a steady 29 Celsius 84 Fahrenheit. I dove with a 3mm shortie and wasactually warm during a few dives, and opted for only a lycra.
Dives are limited intime and will usually be called at about the 45-50 minute mark depending on thedive, time of day, currents, etc Thedive leader will deploy a surface marker and then you slowly ascend, performyour safety stop and the tender will be there to pick you up.
If you areinvestigating diving in Palau you heard about the Reef Hook. This is the first time I used this device andit is SO MUCH FUN!!!!. Imagine gettingto a site where the current is awesome, you hook onto a rock, have a 2m / 6ftrope that clips onto your BCD, you then inflate your BCD, do your bestimitation of a kite and enjoy the show The thought of this is a bit daunting at first but the DM will guide youthrough the first few times you hook, adjust, move, advise, etc
First day of divingincluded 2 dives. A checkout dive at adowned Japanese Sea Plane and a night dive at a wreck. The checkout dive is nothing to write homeabout and the night dive was actually really cool. I am extremely partial tonight wreck dives so I was loving it
The daily schedulewas:
06:30 wake up call
Coffee and Cake
06:50 dive prep
07:00 tender boatleaves, back at +/- 08:30
Breakfast
09:50 dive prep
10:00 tender boatleaves, back at +/- 11:30
Lunch
12:50 dive prep
13:00 tender boatleaves, back at +/- 14:30
Snack
15:50 dive prep
16:00 tender boatleaves, back at +/- 17:30 (sometimes this dive was earlier. I would suggest you take a dive light withyou on this dive as it is close to dusk)
18:50 dive prep
19:00 tender boatleaves, back at +/- 20:30
Dinner
I personally didn'tdo the rest of the night dives as I was exhausted after 4 dives, but I heardthey were great.
The rest of theweeks diving was PHENOMENAL!!! Palau isa shark sanctuary and it shows. Therewere only a handful of dives that we did not see any sharks (mostly Gray Reef,White Tips, and Black Tips). The reef isvery healthy, lots of fish species, eels, warsse, scorpion fish, etc... Turtles are plentiful and the coral gardensare filled with life. Very healthycorals and some nice macro life if you have the eye for it
We had theobligatory sojourn to Jelly Fish Lake. As we were the first ones there it was kind of a spiritualexperience. The nature, the quite, thebirds chirping, the jelly fish...simply amazing.
The dive at theChandelier Caves was also a new experience with a nice ending when we got tosee a bunch of Mandarin Fish.
The diving in Palauis very dependent on the tides which go in 2 week cycles. Being there for two weeks gave me a taste ofboth. My first week was a full moonwhich resulted in crazy currents (good crazy), and the boat which as an 8ftdraft could get through most channels. On the second week the tides changed which lessened the currents a bit.This also resulted in two days where we had to take the tender boat for a 30min ride to get to Pelilu. This is not abig deal at all as we did our surface interval on Pelilu (actually stood onsolid ground), and the crew brought food and drinks.
I won't go into theactual dive details as that information in in my log book and Im too lazy togo get it
The Boat
Not much I can saymore than what you will find on the OH3 website. The boat is extremely accommodating and neverfelt cramped. They have a great loungearea to watch movies and photos from the day, a large dining area and thecabins were great.
The nice surprisewas that the in suite bathrooms were larger than I expected and the shower hadreally nice water pressure.
The most importantthing I want to say about the boat is the crew. The crew is amazing!!!! They are attentive to your every need, theyalways have a smile on their face, they know the best jokes, and they are thenicest people on the planet. As I spenttwo weeks on this vessel I felt at home while still being treated like a kingand like a member of their extended family. I don't know how they do it...the crew is a special bunch of people whoI would not hesitate to invite into my home any day of the year. I can go on an write a whole book on how goodthey made me feel but I will summarize it by saying that I felt a pang ofsorrow as I departed and hugged each one of them individually.
The food on the boatwas great. Every day was something newand it was all really good. It isamazing what these guys produce in such a small galley. We also had vegetarians on board and theyalways made special things for them as well. They will also accommodate you if you want to eat at a certain time aslong as it reasonable. The greatestthing was that they were worried if you did not eat...kind of like you mother "Why didn't you eat____do you want me to make you somethingelse?" Also the amount of food waspractically gluttonous .
On the last day thecrew also washed and took care of our gear. They did an amazing job in this as well (I watched as they handled mygear) and I didn't have anything to do when I got back home but hang it backup.
General Comments
I'm sure I missedsome things here. If you have anyspecific questions please let me know and I'll try to answer.
The entire Fish NFins operation was great, from top to bottom. In most dive club I've been to there is always a feeling of camaraderie but here it was alsoa feeling of family. Welcome...sit...eat...dive...tell us a story.
I also did the FishN Fins ATV tour on the Sunday between my trips and it was a blast. Lot's of fun, and you get to see a part ofthe country you would not otherwise see and learn a bit more about theirhistory.
Bottom line .can'twait to go again!!!!!
Thanks,
Gil
Thought I mightshare some of the experiences I had on the Ocean Hunter 3. I will talk about:
- The Plan
- Getting There
- The Diving
- The Boat (amenities, food, etc )
- General Comments
Plan
My original plan wasto spend a week in Fiji and then a week in Palau but the flight schedulesbetween the two didn't allow for it so I opted to spend 2 weeks in back to backtrips on the Ocean Hunter 3 (OH3).
Getting There
I had some dilemmason the best way to get to Koror from New York and finally decided on thefollowing route:
Newark-->Honolulu-->Guam-->Yap-->Koror
The reason I chosethis route as apposed to the shorter route through Texas was because I wasdeparting in the winter and didn't know what freak snow storm will cause whichdelays where, so I opted to leave one day early. I have previously missed one day of diving inBelize because of flight cancelationsand I wasn't going to take that chance again.
I left EWR at 09:30and arrived in HNL at 15:20. I spent theday walking around Waikiki Beach, looking at people surfing, drinking some niceKona espresso and having a nice dinner.
The following day at14:45 I had my flight to GUM, a 2 hour lay over and thenGUM-->YAP-->ROR. This leg iscontinues as you don't disembark andremain on the plane for about 90 min.
I arrived in ROR at23:05 and went straight to a hotel to crash.
Airport pickups andthe hotel the first night were pre arranged by Fish N Fins.
Diving
All diving isperformed off a tender boat. The tenderboat is designed very well and never felt crowded. Your dive gear will remain on the tenderthroughout the week and there is no need to carry anything anywhere. The only things I took on and off the tenderwere my dive light and the camera I rented for 2 days
. The tender boat's benches have storage inthem to throw in your snorkel, booties, fins, water bottle, whatever
.Diving off thetender is immensely easy. The staff wasalways helpful in helping you gear up (hoisting your pack to the bench andhelping you with the straps, etc , and you backward roll into the water.
Water temperaturewas at a steady 29 Celsius 84 Fahrenheit. I dove with a 3mm shortie and wasactually warm during a few dives, and opted for only a lycra.
Dives are limited intime and will usually be called at about the 45-50 minute mark depending on thedive, time of day, currents, etc Thedive leader will deploy a surface marker and then you slowly ascend, performyour safety stop and the tender will be there to pick you up.
If you areinvestigating diving in Palau you heard about the Reef Hook. This is the first time I used this device andit is SO MUCH FUN!!!!. Imagine gettingto a site where the current is awesome, you hook onto a rock, have a 2m / 6ftrope that clips onto your BCD, you then inflate your BCD, do your bestimitation of a kite and enjoy the show
The thought of this is a bit daunting at first but the DM will guide youthrough the first few times you hook, adjust, move, advise, etc
First day of divingincluded 2 dives. A checkout dive at adowned Japanese Sea Plane and a night dive at a wreck. The checkout dive is nothing to write homeabout and the night dive was actually really cool. I am extremely partial tonight wreck dives so I was loving it
The daily schedulewas:
06:30 wake up call
Coffee and Cake
06:50 dive prep
07:00 tender boatleaves, back at +/- 08:30
Breakfast
09:50 dive prep
10:00 tender boatleaves, back at +/- 11:30
Lunch
12:50 dive prep
13:00 tender boatleaves, back at +/- 14:30
Snack
15:50 dive prep
16:00 tender boatleaves, back at +/- 17:30 (sometimes this dive was earlier. I would suggest you take a dive light withyou on this dive as it is close to dusk)
18:50 dive prep
19:00 tender boatleaves, back at +/- 20:30
Dinner
I personally didn'tdo the rest of the night dives as I was exhausted after 4 dives, but I heardthey were great.
The rest of theweeks diving was PHENOMENAL!!! Palau isa shark sanctuary and it shows. Therewere only a handful of dives that we did not see any sharks (mostly Gray Reef,White Tips, and Black Tips). The reef isvery healthy, lots of fish species, eels, warsse, scorpion fish, etc... Turtles are plentiful and the coral gardensare filled with life. Very healthycorals and some nice macro life if you have the eye for it
We had theobligatory sojourn to Jelly Fish Lake. As we were the first ones there it was kind of a spiritualexperience. The nature, the quite, thebirds chirping, the jelly fish...simply amazing.
The dive at theChandelier Caves was also a new experience with a nice ending when we got tosee a bunch of Mandarin Fish.
The diving in Palauis very dependent on the tides which go in 2 week cycles. Being there for two weeks gave me a taste ofboth. My first week was a full moonwhich resulted in crazy currents (good crazy), and the boat which as an 8ftdraft could get through most channels. On the second week the tides changed which lessened the currents a bit.This also resulted in two days where we had to take the tender boat for a 30min ride to get to Pelilu. This is not abig deal at all as we did our surface interval on Pelilu (actually stood onsolid ground), and the crew brought food and drinks.
I won't go into theactual dive details as that information in in my log book and Im too lazy togo get it
The Boat
Not much I can saymore than what you will find on the OH3 website. The boat is extremely accommodating and neverfelt cramped. They have a great loungearea to watch movies and photos from the day, a large dining area and thecabins were great.
The nice surprisewas that the in suite bathrooms were larger than I expected and the shower hadreally nice water pressure.
The most importantthing I want to say about the boat is the crew. The crew is amazing!!!! They are attentive to your every need, theyalways have a smile on their face, they know the best jokes, and they are thenicest people on the planet. As I spenttwo weeks on this vessel I felt at home while still being treated like a kingand like a member of their extended family. I don't know how they do it...the crew is a special bunch of people whoI would not hesitate to invite into my home any day of the year. I can go on an write a whole book on how goodthey made me feel but I will summarize it by saying that I felt a pang ofsorrow as I departed and hugged each one of them individually.
The food on the boatwas great. Every day was something newand it was all really good. It isamazing what these guys produce in such a small galley. We also had vegetarians on board and theyalways made special things for them as well. They will also accommodate you if you want to eat at a certain time aslong as it reasonable. The greatestthing was that they were worried if you did not eat...kind of like you mother
"Why didn't you eat____do you want me to make you somethingelse?" Also the amount of food waspractically gluttonous .On the last day thecrew also washed and took care of our gear. They did an amazing job in this as well (I watched as they handled mygear) and I didn't have anything to do when I got back home but hang it backup.
General Comments
I'm sure I missedsome things here. If you have anyspecific questions please let me know and I'll try to answer.
The entire Fish NFins operation was great, from top to bottom. In most dive club I've been to there is always a feeling of camaraderie but here it was alsoa feeling of family. Welcome...sit...eat...dive...tell us a story.
I also did the FishN Fins ATV tour on the Sunday between my trips and it was a blast. Lot's of fun, and you get to see a part ofthe country you would not otherwise see and learn a bit more about theirhistory.
Bottom line .can'twait to go again!!!!!
Thanks,
Gil
